From pagemaker to CS Pro Indesign

[Harold_...@adobeforums.com]

Hello,

At this moment I’m using Adobe Pagemaker 6.5. I’m thinking about buying Creative Suit Pro. This especially for Indesign. But I’m left with some questions, I hope someone can give me the answers. For instance;

- Can I create a TOC over multiple ID documents? Does ID refresh it automatically after any changes?

- What are the possibilities on numbering illustrations and graphics? Can I auto-generate a number.

- In PageMaker I have a printing problem. If I use for instance; ºC, ³, ² sometimes my PCL and PS printer have problems with this and change the font into courier. After contacting CANON and Adobe I never found out the solution, I hope to get rid of this problem with ID.

- Is it true that all the programs in CS Pro work together? Can I place native files form AI and PS in ID.

- If I want to make a book from say, 6 ID documents, can ID make the page numbers chronically?

For now thanks for your response,
Harold Lentink

[jens_schulze]

> - Can I create a TOC over multiple ID documents? Does ID refresh it
automatically after any changes?

The TOC can span over multiple documents when connected with the book
feature. Not automatic, you can trigger it, so it will not recalculate the
pagination on every little change you do, so no disadvantage it is not
automatic.

> - What are the possibilities on numbering illustrations and graphics? Can
I auto-generate a number.

Not built-in feature, but you can solve this problem via the extensive
scripting interface.

> - In PageMaker I have a printing problem. If I use for instance; ºC, ³, ²
sometimes my
> PCL and PS printer have problems with this and change the font into
courier. After
> contacting CANON and Adobe I never found out the solution, I hope to get
rid of
> this problem with ID.

Because it is unsure where the problem lies, nobody can answer it, I haven't
had such problems the last two years. But you can download the InDesign2
Demo version (fully functional for 30 days) to evaluate it.

> - Is it true that all the programs in CS Pro work together? Can I place
native files form AI and PS in ID.

Yes, that works, from AI also via clipboard, and PSD files will retain
transparency.

> - If I want to make a book from say, 6 ID documents, can ID make the page
numbers chronically?

Yes, with the book function.

Jens

[Dave_S...@adobeforums.com]

Actually, the CS trial is now available for download.

Dave

[Harold_...@adobeforums.com]

First of all thanks for the comment.

Jens,

What are the possibilities on numbering illustrations and graphics? Can
I auto-generate a number.

>Not built-in feature, but you can solve this problem via the extensive
scripting interface.

[Harold_...@adobeforums.com]

>>First of all thanks for the comments.

What are the possibilities on numbering illustrations and graphics? Can
I auto-generate a number.

>Not built-in feature, but you can solve this problem via the extensive
scripting interface.

>>Jens, you say that this numbering is not an built-in feature, since
i'm pretty much a no-no at ID, where can i get such scripting interface,
any idea what the costs are app.? Is it "easy" to create?

>>And Dave also thanks for you're comment i'll download the trial-version
of CS

Harold

[Harold_...@adobeforums.com]

Jens,

In addition to the numbering of graphics and illustration i'm also looking for a way to number certain paragraph styles. I guess this requires scripting also am i right?

reguards,

Harold

[jens_schulze]

> In addition to the numbering of graphics and illustration i'm also looking
> for a way to number certain paragraph styles. I guess this requires
> scripting also am i right?

Yes, this requires scripting. The scripting interface is built-in, you can
use on Windows Javascript, VBScript and any COM-aware programming language
(VB, VC, VC++, VC#, even Python) to programm it - so no cost for the
interface, and the cost you eventually need for the programming language.
But you would need programming experience and knowledge of the object modell
of InDesign. For numbering paragraph styles, I have written a windows
programm that does it three levels deep, feel free to contact me via the
mail adress provided in my forum info.

Jens

[Harold_...@adobeforums.com]

Jens,

thanks for youre fast reply. I'll keep this in mind. First i've got to convince my boss into letting my buy CS premium. If that happens i might contact you for some help.

Harold

[Stu_...@adobeforums.com]

The PageMaker plugin has limited capabilities for numbering paragraphs.

[Harold_...@adobeforums.com]

Stu, Can you be more specific?

When i got it right i can get this plugin for pagemaker free when i buy CS Premium right?

And what are the possibilities?

[Stu_...@adobeforums.com]

I don't have the details. I've only read about it, not seen it. It is my understanding that if you buy the suite, you can get it free.

[Cheryl...@adobeforums.com]

Please see next message.

[Cheryl...@adobeforums.com]

I am graphic designer/typographer and an original PageMaker user (when it was Aldus). I have thousands of customer files (all now PageMaker 6.5 or 7.0, Windows XP) that I will have to convert to ID. About 85% of those files have custom kerning and/or leading.

Question 1:
Will I lose that formatting when I convert these files? If so, has anyone written a script or plug-in to preserve that formatting? If not, nearly 12 years of work will be useless to me.

Question 2:
Will the PageMaker plug-in for ID CS allow me to compose documents without creating frames? Frames are a pain-in-the-neck for the kind of work I do--they are a totally unnecessary step that complicates my work flow for no reason.

Question 3:
I purchased ID 2.0 very recently. Do I now have to pay another $169 to upgrade to ID CS in addition to the $49 for the PageMaker plug-in?

Editorial comment to Adobe, if they are listening...
I feel totally abandoned by a company for whom I have been a long standing loyal customer. The $300 upgrade from PageMaker to InDesign was hard enough for a small, independent designer to justify, not to mention the learning curve. Your pricing policy was also a foolish marketing move. It is always easier to keep existing customers than to attract new ones. Evidently, this Marketing 101 lesson fell on deaf ears at the Adobe think tanks because they did precious little to keep their existing customer base.

Now you pour salt on the wound by requiring another $169 upgrade fee for CS in order to use the PageMaker plug-in (which should have been free in the first place if you really wanted to convert PageMaker users)--all for the privilege of continuing to work as I have been for the past 12 years. Do you not care at all about your user base? Or do you assume that the thousands of small designers who faithfully used PageMaker have corporate-sized bank books?

If Quark or Corel were equal to PageMaker, I would be there. They are not, so I am stuck.

A very unhappy and disappointed user,
Cheryl Geiger
cege...@aol.com

[Robert...@adobeforums.com]

> Question 1:

Text flow will change. There is nothing that can be done about that
since ID's text engine is so far superior to PM's.

> Question 2:

No. You'll need frames.

> Question 3:

When and where EXACTLY did you buy ID 2.0? Anyone purchasing 2.0 from
the time CS was announced at the end of September until sometime in
January was entitled to a free upgrade to CS. That deadline has passed
but I would still suggest a call to Adobe Customer Service if you indeed
purchased 2.0 AFTER CS was announced.

As for your "editorial," well, it's called progress. Things improve.
Most of us are quite happy to be using ID and wouldn't go back to PM for
anything.

There are a lot of people here, including myself that are former PM
users and would be happy to help you if you post specific questions. I'd
suggest keeping an old computer around just to run PM for your legacy
documents that only need small changes and switch any new stuff over to ID.

Bob

[Jo...@adobeforums.com]

Cheryl,

You aren't *required* to upgrade to ID CS. We're using 2.0.2, and we'll
evaluate the possibility of upgrading later this year. ID 2 works just
great. (We used PM since v1, until 12/01, when we switched to ID.)

The fate of PM has been obvious for years, at least to some PM users. The
transition to ID is easy enough. Make this forum a regular stop, and ask
lots of questions.

-John O

[Jo...@adobeforums.com]

> Question 1:
> Will I lose that formatting when I convert these files?

I forgot this part: If this is a huge problem, then just don't convert these
files. Leave them in PM, and upgrade if/when you need to. Adobe lets you
keep PM after you upgrade, so this isn't an either/or situation at all.

-John O

[nthoib...@gmail.com]